Sonny

Arnold moves in on me, I plan to move in on Maria!

Why is everyone following me to Carpinteria..I try hard to be offensive and obnoxious, to push folks away and what do I get? Dr. Laura hanging out at Harley Davidson down the road; Kevin Costner wants to be close and buys a coastal ranch next to Santa Claus Lane; what next, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver a stone's throw away? YES..dammit. Arnold and Maria just bought into Rancho Monte Alegre..I used to live there in the 1990s..it is beautiful, but I'm worried Arnold may fuck it up, like he is doing to California.

Rancho Monte Alegre

From 1991 to 1996, I lived on two Carpinteria ranches; Rancho Monte Alegre and the Young Ranch on Foothill Road. These are examples of old Carpinteria..wild, rustic and beautiful. Rancho Monte Alegre was the hideout of Hollywood actors like Robert Mitchum, John Wayne, Harry Carey Jr. and his wife, Olive (Ollie) Carey! The ranch owners told stories of Ollie hosting cocktails parties in her little pink bungaloo (where I lived). She acted in the old B movie westerns, which I just love. The ranch was sold when the Carp water district annexed and built the 3 million gallon water tank on ranch property. The owners always said that given a reliable water supply, they could sell the ranch ..they envisioned ranchettes on the land..and that's exactly what happened. The CWD denies the new tank had anything to do with development!

The entrance to the ranch was gorgeous, but the new owners destroyed it (par for the course!)

So here is my throw down to you…

Arnold..

while you and Maria are sittin' pretty up at the ranch, planting your native-only garden, you should think long and hard about taking money away from schools, jet-setting around California on the taxpayers dime, showing up at photo-ops with charts that third graders could have done a better job explaining, and how you are failing California. It is long past time to cut funds where it makes sense or raise taxes where it makes sense..tax the things that add least to society ..smokers, drinkers, gamblers, trust fund babies. Tax cell phones, tax alcohol and cigarettes, tax the Indians, tax the big businesses who suck resources from California.

Just do it and stop worrying about what your conservative friends will say.. cut funds from the agriculture commission who is wasting millions removing non native species from California.. and FINE THE REAL POLLUTERS like Greka Oil...and the landowners who provide the lease (Brooks Firestone & COLAB).

It makes no sense to balance a budget on the backs of students or removing programs, like music and art, that will allow them to enrich their lives instead of hanging out at the casino. Geez, man, get a grip.. since we are neighbors now, you are going to hear me howling in the hills within earshot of the ranch....you better help me find a way to save the music and keep the California Parks open!

Welcome to the hood, pal.... and here's some homework for you...

California Progress Report

Wasting Money on Fear...

thank President Clinton for enacting the Invasive Species Council in 1999 enabling madness in government

Florida and California Had the Highest Invasive Species Expenditures

Florida and California each spent considerably more than the other five

states on invasive species activities. In fiscal years 1999 and 2000, Florida

reported spending $94.5 million and $127.6 million, respectively;

Over half ($154.5 million) of the funding for specific categories of invasive species went to terrestrial arthropods (a category of invertebrates—primarily insects—that includes fruit flies and Asian long-horned beetles). The plant category, which includes terrestrial noncrop (such as purple loosestrife), terrestrial crop (crop weeds such as johnsongrass), and aquatic plants, received the second greatest amount of funding—$70.7 million!!!!

the-weeds-of-willapa-bay

....Even so, Fritzi Cohen, owner of the Moby Dick Hotel, does not endorse The Nature Conservancy or Washington State’s rationale or method for eradicating the noxious weed. She also doesn’t think getting rid of the invasive grass will ever help her oyster farm.

NOW GET TO WORK!!